Bolt
Action Miniatures is a brand new manufacturer of 28mm white metal WW2
figures. Since we have a soft spot for new or relatively unknown companies,
this calls for a review of some of the first releases. The fact that this
is a new wargaming period for me to explore (unless you count the plastic
armymen of my youth - ah... so many hours of joy) only heightens the pleasure.
They will begin to sell and ship pre-orders in March 2004. Thanks go to
Si for supplying the figures for this review ahead of schedule. Up for review
are four British/Canadian figures, two with rifles (GB002) and two with
stens (GB004).

As
always, I like to form a first general opinion of the common characteristics
upon opening the little bags. The first thing I noticed when I picked
up one of the models, was the nice, flat, perfectly oval base. Then I
noticed all the figures shared the same regular base, with same size and
shape. I know it may be trivial and of course the quality of the actual
mini is what matters most, but it is still a welcome change from the irregularly
shaped and increasingly thick solid bases I've been experiencing with
other companies and that often require sanding in order to get some stability
for the figures. Actually, the solid bases on these are so good you could
very well use them for skirmish games without adding a larger base if
you wanted. As with most new ranges, casting is good and mould lines are
very small. Only the ones on the legs needed a little cleaning (which
was very easy). These are cast in white metal, but you already knew that.

Now
lets take a closer look at the figures in question. The images show the
front and back view of each miniature (click on them for full size).

The first
figures are infantry riflemen equipped with Lee Enfield rifles. These
figures are suitable for either British or Canadian troops from D-Day
onwards. They are also wearing MKIII helmets, complete with foliage and
additional mounted items. I don't know for you, but for me there's nothing
that quite evokes the feeling of old World War 2 movies as these foliage
covered MKIII's. Poses are realistic (I know, I've tried them out). Sculpting
is good, with plenty of little details and equipment items all over the
backside of the figure. The faces seem pretty appropriate for the period,
meaning they look a lot like those you'd see on old pictures of those
days. The only thing I noticed is that none of them appear to have hair
on the back of their head, but since they're military it's probably just
because it is cut really short. Overall there is a nice attention to detail,
as shown in the texture of the soles on the kneeling figures (see pictures
backside).

The other
figures are more D Day British and Canadians, but this time armed with
the sten gun and shown in advancing and firing poses. As described on
the Bolt Action website,
they are dressed in combat fatiges with MKIII helmet complete with foliage
and helmet mounted bits and bobs.
Again, the poses are mostly realistic. I only have a small reservation
to make about the kneeling figure. Although the lower body seems to be
based on the same dolly as the riflemen discussed above, the positioning
of the torso seems to indicate this figure is resting most of his weight
on the leg that has the knee on the ground. When I tried to duplicate
this position (don't laugh!), I found this to be somewhat uncomfortable
and holding it for a longer period was outright painful. Of course, this
could simply imply that there is something wrong with me, not with the
miniature. Either way, I strongly doubt anyone is going to point to this
particular soldier on the table and question his pose, which looked very
reasonable until I tried it out.

I did appreciate
the way he rests his left arm with the sten gun on his leg, saving his
strength before aiming. The
stens themselves are reasonably small for this scale and making them any
smaller would probably result in casting difficulties and bits breaking
off before you got home with them.

The most important
question most gamers will ask (after: "What do they look like?"),
will be: "What size are they really?" Well, the ruler indicates
25mm sole to eye, that is not counting the base, or 29 mm top of head
(30mm with the base). Click on the picture to see for yourself. What does
this mean? Well, that they're probably going to look great next to some
of your older ranges, like the Foundry WW2 miniatures (and there was much
rejoycing). They will however be smaller than some of the more bulky figures
like the Chiltern Miniatures big 28mm's.

Now to conclude,
Bolt Action provides gamers with some very nice WW2 figures, both in concept
and execution, with generally good poses. These are 'small' 28mm's, but
should fit in nicely with most historical ranges, except those already
affected by the dreaded 'scale creep'. Fans of Second World War gaming,
this is one to watch.